Master's Degree in Economics of Tourism: Monitoring and Evaluation

The Master in Economics of Tourism: Monitoring and Evaluation (METME) is an advanced education program aimed at training specialists in economic analysis applied to the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of projects and polices in the context of tourism economies. The master provides analytical and quantitative tools on M&E, integrating theoretical knowledge and its application to real economic problems, to address today’s economic challenges faced by economies highly specialized on tourism. The master will help students to develop skills and competences in M&E to improve the competiveness and sustainability of tourism economies. Graduates will acquire knowledge of cutting-edge techniques in M&E by choosing one of the two available specializations: (i)Monitoring techniques applied to tourism or (ii)Evaluation techniques applied to tourism.

Monitoring is the systematic collection of data on specified indicators to identify the changes taking place in a system (destination, sector, activity, firm, etc.) during a certain period of time that, usually, matches that of the implementation of a project, program or policy. Monitoring provides managers and stakeholders with indications of the extent of progress and achievement of objectives in the use of allocated funds.

Evaluation is the systematic and objective assessment of the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of a project, program or policy in a given system (destination, sector, activity, firm, etc.). Evaluation attempts to measure the economic impact of the project to determine the relevance and fulfilment of its objectives. An evaluation should provide credible and useful information, enabling the incorporation of lessons learned into the decision-making process.

To be able to contribute to the planning, monitoring and evaluation of policies, programmes and projects oriented towards the improvement of the competitiveness and sustainability of a tourism company, destination or region.

To be able to identify the key indicators used to monitor and evaluate projects within the tourism environment.

To be able to collect, generate, process and analyse statistical data to support monitoring and evaluation activities.

To know and understand the diverse impact that different tourism development alternatives can have on social wellbeing (environment, health, equality of opportunities, etc.).

To know the essential parts of a research process, to be able to undertake basic research activities and to present their results in a scientific format.

To develop skills that facilitate integration into labour markets related to the tourism industry and, especially, to the companies and institutions that monitor and evaluate projects and programmes in the tourism environment.

To acquire the abilities and skills required to develop a PhD leading to a research career in the framework of applied economics or tourism economics.

Legislation requires that official Spanish degree programmes receive a positive assessment
from the National Agency for Quality Assessment
and Accreditation (ANECA, by its Spanish acronym).
This process is known as verification, and it serves to ensure that education programmes
are properly designed to provide the competencies and reach
the learning goals around which the programmes are built.
In the
results
you can find reports on official study programmes.

The Master's programme is subject to constant assessment and improvement processes
that guarantee that it maintains a certain level of
prestige and renown in Europe.
You can see the results of the assessment processes in the section on quality.